This is one of those rare moments when the conventional wisdom in Washington is right. The Democrats are poised to have a bad year; the only argument is over how bad it will be. And that question rests on whether or not the Republican Party crafts an agenda voters will support

So far the GOP has shrewdly been the "party of no." Since I disagree with so much of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda, I happen to think that "no" is the correct position on the merits. But that's not the point. Saying "no" has worked because that's what most Americans say, too.

The trick for the GOP is to figure out what it will say yes to. Republicans are a bit like the Democrats in 2006 and 2008. Americans were sick of Bush and the Republicans back then, so they threw their support behind the Democrats by default. The Democrats over-read this support as a sweeping mandate for their agenda.

This has given the GOP an opportunity many Republicans feared just a year ago might not come for a generation.

Now comes the hard part: seizing the opportunity. Fortunately, I'm not a political consultant. But if I were giving my two cents -- and whaddya know? I am! -- I'd tell the GOP to look not to Reagan in 1980 or Gingrich in 1994, as so many pundits suggest.

I'd look to Domino's in 2010.

You may have seen the commercials or the four-minute YouTube video touting the iconic pizza-delivery chain's reinvention. But if you haven't, Domino's new campaign can be summed up easily enough: "We blew it."

Focus groups and consumer surveys revealed something pretty much everyone outside of Domino's has known for years: Their pizza stinks. It tastes as if aliens tried to copy real pizza but just couldn't capture its essence.

In their four-minute video (search YouTube for "the Pizza Turnaround") executives, employees and chefs at the company confront their harshest reviews head-on. They talk about how much it hurts to hear that their product "tastes like cardboard" and is worse than microwave pizza. But they admit the truth and commit themselves to starting over with more flavor, better crusts, and cheese that doesn't taste like discount weather caulking. Domino's says that the American palate has improved, and they want to update their recipe to take account of that fact.

The appeal of the campaign should be obvious: honesty. Domino's admits they lost their way, and they want a second chance. They're confronting the criticism head-on rather than denying it.

Obviously, the analogy to the GOP isn't perfect. For example, last I checked, Domino's didn't get bogged down in an unpopular war.

But the GOP's troubles over the last decade have a lot to do with the fact that Americans didn't stop liking what the Republican Party is supposed to deliver. They stopped liking what the GOP actually delivered.

As a conservative who cares more about policies than partisan success, I would hate to see the GOP abandon conservative policies in order to be more popular. That would be like Domino's listening to critics and then deciding to get into the Chinese food business. Indeed, by my lights, that's what George W. Bush tried to do with his "compassionate conservatism." He surrendered to liberal arguments about the role, size and scope of government on too many fronts. In effect, he said you can have your pizza and Kung Pao chicken all in the same dish. That's not a good meal, it's a bad mess.

Moreover, abandoning conservatism would be silly. According to Gallup, Americans identify themselves as conservative over liberal by a margin of 2-1, the same proportion as just after 9/11.

So what would a GOP-turnaround recipe look like? That's a subject for any number of other columns. But for starters, I'd look to young political chefs like Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). He's been the leader in attacking "crony capitalism" -- the corrupt merger of big business and big government, a hallmark of the Obama administration. For too long Republicans confused supporting big business with supporting free markets, when big business is often the biggest impediment to fair competition. Other fresh new ingredients would almost surely include pro-family tax policies and the de-linking of legal and illegal immigration as interchangeable terms.

But first, the GOP needs to admit it screwed up. That's what Democrats did with Bill Clinton, and it gave the "New Democratic Party" a new lease on life.

F. Scott Fitzgerald couldn't have been more wrong when he said there are "no second acts in American lives." More than any nation on earth, America is about second acts. We love contrition and redemption. We love it in pizza companies and politicians alike.

In their four-minute video (search YouTube for "the Pizza Turnaround") executives, employees and chefs at the company confront their harshest reviews head-on. They talk about how much it hurts to hear that their product "tastes like cardboard" and is worse than microwave pizza. But they admit the truth and commit themselves to starting over with more flavor, better crusts, and cheese that doesn't taste like discount weather caulking. Domino's says that the American palate has improved, and they want to update their recipe to take account of that fact.

One of my inlaws ran a Dominos...he said that the ingredients for a typical pizza were about 25 cents cost. This is one of the reasons that I don't eat at McDonalds anymore....their meat does not taste like meat..their french fries seem like it's just compacted processed 'buds' of some sort approximating a potato.....about the only thing they haven't 'improved' is the coke...

Good article. However, the Dems may have confessed their screwup with Clinton; but they went back and did the same thing with Obama which is worse. They don’t pick winners. They pick frauds because they are frauds.

The GOP should get with the program. They have an opportunity to join the people. Let’s see if they do.

For the Republicans to say we screwed up is one thing, but to get some discipline on earmarks and pork barrel spending is something else. The American people are mad about a lot of things but especially the orgy of spending coming from Congress. Far too many members of our party have gotten earmarks and special interest projects for their districts and are little better than Democrats. Then there is the issue of RINOs.

What the Republican party desperately needs is leadership and a tough no nonsense fiscal policy. That will mean giving up those earmarks and pork for the good of the country

9
posted on 01/08/2010 5:07:34 AM PST
by The Great RJ
("The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." M. Thatcher)

Republicans are a bit like the Democrats in 2006 and 2008. Americans were sick of Bush and the Republicans back then, so they threw their support behind the Democrats by default.

As with virtually all things, I'm reminded of a scene from "The Simpsons". The Springfield crowd is rallied to support a neighborhood watch. Ned seems to be the man for the job after everyone was chanting his name, and he humbly begins to say that he doesn't have much experience, so Moe impatiently interjects "Someone Else!"... and the crowd begins chanting, "Someone Else! Someone Else!" (Homer then realizes aloud, "Hey, I'm Someone Else!")

That basically sums up the wisdom used by the majority of swing voters... and often, the GOP candidates

But the GOP's troubles over the last decade have a lot to do with the fact that Americans didn't stop liking what the Republican Party is supposed to deliver. They stopped liking what the GOP actually delivered.

The GOP, like a stern, but caring parent, has to be “The Party of No” (or “HELL NO”, if one prefers) because the Democratic Party, like spoled, self-indulgent children, is “The Party of Gimmee, Gimmee, Gimmee”.

But the GOP's troubles over the last decade have a lot to do with the fact that Americans didn't stop liking what the Republican Party is supposed to deliver. They stopped liking what the GOP actually delivered.

No matter how complicated you try to make it, it really is that simple.

RE:” The trick for the GOP is to figure out what it will say yes to. Republicans are a bit like the Democrats in 2006 and 2008. Americans were sick of Bush and the Republicans back then, so they threw their support behind the Democrats by default. The Democrats over-read this support as a sweeping mandate for their agenda.....For too long Republicans confused supporting big business with supporting free markets, when big business is often the biggest impediment to fair competition. Other fresh new ingredients would almost surely include pro-family tax policies and the de-linking of legal and illegal immigration as interchangeable terms. But first, the GOP needs to admit it screwed up.(amen sol comment)”

I agree with much of this (see bold)it is sad and ironic that while the R party may look anti-legal-immigration over illegal immigration/amnesty, there was a massive historical wave of new legal immigrants to this country under Bush's eight years. It fed the housing boom on the east coast eating up every plot of open space in many areas . So what do we have now? Unemployment and immigrants voting Democrat (at least the past 6 years.) Did we really need them?

20
posted on 01/08/2010 5:39:12 AM PST
by sickoflibs
( "It's not the taxes, the redistribution is spending you demand stupid")

Oddly, the hapless GOP believes that the Clinton and Obama models are the prototypes to winning elections. They do understand the socialist tendencies of the American people and therefore ignore their own base of constitutionalists.

I don’t recall eating a Domino’s pizza but I swore off McDonald’s long ago. I always considered a Mac burger as something that would prevent starvation in a pinch but was only to be used in an emergency to stop that gnawing under the belt feeling.

I used to hear how the great success of McDonald’s was attributed to their perfect “quality control” and shake my head in wonder. I seem to remember that their coffee was alright though and their breakfast was reasonably good.

23
posted on 01/08/2010 5:46:41 AM PST
by RipSawyer
(Trying to reason with a leftist is like trying to catch sunshine in a fish net at midnight.)

I think if the Republicans were smart they would revise the
immigration work permits policy and immigration after the 2010 elections to be a lot more reasonable. If they did this and sat on making the existing illegals legal these people would flow into the legal channels and defuse the illegal amnesty issue. Many of these people go home every year or they just come here to work. When they return to the U.S. they would choose to use a legal route if it made any sense and they might actually give the Republicans credit it.

“. Many of these people go home every year or they just come here to work.”

No, they come here, and STAY here for the 20,000+ per year(family of 4) welfare benefits. This is one of the reasons California is bankrupt. They not only stay, they bring their relatives over here, once they are settled in.

That is what I used to think, but I can tell you in the Carolinas when a large chunk of these people lost their jobs they went home according to official reports and
my unofficial observations. (I was a bit surprized by
this to be honest with you.)

It still sucks.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I actually prefer a Digiorno’s cooked according to directions in a good oven over almost any chain pizza outlet in my area. Of course there is nothing here that approaches what was available in Chicago the last time I was there back in 1982.

31
posted on 01/08/2010 6:11:41 AM PST
by RipSawyer
(Trying to reason with a leftist is like trying to catch sunshine in a fish net at midnight.)

We passed a law in Arizona that you must PROVE that you are eligable to work in the USA. In the past 18 months, we have lost almost half of our illegal immigrants. If the whole country did this, they would self deport. Neither party has the balls to do it.

In the Carolinas if they don't have a job the young ones go home to live off their relatives like our kids would do here. Now if a guy is married with kids that might be a little different because they might be able to get government benefits. The young guys live with a bunch of their buddies. If they can't pay their way they are ousted from the nest pretty quick and they generally go home. With the drop in building and landscaping their ranks have really thinned out over the last coupe of years.

"For too long Republicans confused supporting big business with supporting free markets, when big business is often the biggest impediment to fair competition."

Bingo! Being "pro-business" has hurt the GOP for decades. They never learn. They need to be "pro-free enterprise" and tell people, if big business stops serving Americans well, they deserve to go out of business and be replaced by businesses that ARE producing and serving the American People.

36
posted on 01/08/2010 6:30:21 AM PST
by Jabba the Nutt
(Are they insane, stupid or just evil?)

The GOP should go with a "small" agenda. Less of everything. Empowering individuals, families and small businesses to make their own choices. The government should help them do that and then get out of the way. While the Democrats attempt to re-run the "New Deal", the GOP can offer a fresh political approach to the 21st Century. Not big government, not compassionate government but a small government that does a few things well.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

I want to make the point that this article makes a great suggestion. Right now, the Democrats from Obama to Reid to Pelosi are the party of “We don’t listen to you, because WE know better.” The GOP should reform itself into the party of “We listen to you, we respect you.” Then go on to explain what their hearing and what they are going to do about it.

39
posted on 01/08/2010 6:35:52 AM PST
by Jabba the Nutt
(Are they insane, stupid or just evil?)

Yep, all over the Carolinas. Roofing, landscaping, and new construction are all down to dirt. The states have also raided the meat packing plants and prosecuted the owners so that has been cleaned up for the time being too.

The ‘Pubs might consider creating a fund to buy TV time after the election to (bypass the media and) explain to the American people directly what policies they are promoting and why. I know that it’s quite expensive but otherwise the mainstream media will skew the message.

I tend to agree with this author. I used to complain that the Dems just hated everything the Repubs were trying to accomplish, but had no real suggestions of their own to solve the problems addressed. Now I see the party of “no” doing the same thing. The GOP needs to be putting intelligent plans together to solve the problems the Democrats are addressing.

Examples:

The GOP did nothing to address the rising cost of health care when they had the floor.

The same could be said for illegal immigration.

Both are being addressed by the liberal govt recently installed. They are taking control of the health care system the way their party would handle it by making the govt even bigger and taking more liberty away from its citizenry. They are making “illegal immigration” an oxymoron.

Quality control for McDonalds must obviously mean rigorous control of the cardboard particles, miscellaneous meat by products (e.g., various & sundry critter content), etc....

I worked for them many decades ago back in the early 60s when they had the old stores...the meat was real, the bread was flour, the cheese had real milk in it, the fries came from store cut 100 lb sacks of potatoes that had to be carried up from the basement.....THAT food was excellent, because it was real...I don't know what they have now.

Domestic & offshore oil drilling Nuclear power plants Fair Tax A return to ethical & open gov’t, which we haven't had in a very long time Spending & deficit reduction smaller gov’t a proactive, “get them before they get us” strategy in the WOT

More suggestions welcome!

49
posted on 01/08/2010 9:54:54 AM PST
by Mister Da
(The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)

But the GOP's troubles over the last decade have a lot to do with the fact that Americans didn't stop liking what the Republican Party is supposed to deliver. They stopped liking what the GOP actually delivered.

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